Experience Authentic Island Life at Sunaya: A Private Miyakojima Retreat
This article is sponsored by the Miyakojima Chamber of Commerce.
Sunaya: A private Miyakojima villa that feels like your countryside grandparents' home.
Words and photos by Photographer Seokyoung
Hi everyone! This is Photographer Seokyoung.
Today, I'm sharing a story about my trip to Miyakojima.
While Miyakojima has famous hotel chains and resorts, I believe that experiencing a vacation in a traditional Okinawan-style building is a great option. There's a highly-rated private villa that's popular among Japanese travelers and boasts a high re-booking rate. It's called Sunaya.
Located near the center of Miyakojima Island, it evokes the rural scenery I remember from my childhood and offers easy access to various attractions, making it a place worth considering.
Here are some photos of the outside.
The building's style is commonly seen in Okinawa.
Notice the white coating on the roof? Okinawa is prone to typhoons, so this reinforces the tiles to prevent them from flying off. It's a common architectural feature you'll see while traveling in Okinawa.
When you rent the house, you have exclusive access to a spacious surrounding area. It would be lovely to have brunch here... but I spent all my free time editing photos and working, so I didn't get to enjoy that luxury.
There are a total of three bedrooms. It can accommodate up to eight people, and the price is quite attractive, making it a great value for family trips.
This is the room I stayed in. Of course, the air conditioning worked perfectly, and I fell asleep as soon as I lay down on the bed.
The third bedroom doesn't have a bed, which was intentional. As I mentioned earlier, this private villa has a high re-booking rate among Japanese travelers, and many elderly guests prefer sleeping on the floor, so there's a traditional tatami room available.
The bathroom includes a washing machine and dryer.
I actually have the same dryer at home, but I never use it. It's a gas-guzzling monster! It heats with gas instead of electricity, making it quite expensive. And since Okinawa is an island, fuel and energy costs are higher than on the mainland, similar to Jeju Island.
Here, you can use it without any extra charge. Usually, guesthouses or more well-known private villas charge extra for using the dryer.
The shower provides warm water but is an older style.
The living room has good Wi-Fi and a small workspace. There's also a TV, but I don't watch TV anyway.
This is the kitchen. It's a typical Okinawan home style. Interestingly, there's an ice maker to the left of the refrigerator. Since Japanese people often drink highballs, they need a lot of ice. It's difficult to secure enough ice with just the freezer, and convenience stores in Miyakojima close at 11 PM, so there were many complaints about ice. That's why they installed an ice maker.
I drank highballs until dawn, and that ice maker was a lifesaver!
You don't need something like that on the main island of Okinawa because the convenience stores are open 24/7.
Koreans usually eat out when traveling abroad, almost exclusively.
But Japanese people are different. They often cook for themselves, eating out only once a day. Cultures differ even when they seem similar. However, there are also many Koreans who enjoy cooking while traveling, so having these amenities is great.
As I've mentioned repeatedly, Miyakojima has a small population and isn't a heavily touristed area, so there aren't many shops open late. In fact, there aren't many shops at all... so making your own drinks and snacks at night is a good option.
Japan has many frozen foods and simple ready-to-cook meals that you can easily prepare with just a frying pan.
Miyakojima doesn't have Costco, but it does have a large supermarket called Sanei Mart near Miyako Airport. You can stock up on groceries there after arriving in Miyakojima. It's about a 15-minute drive from here, so it's not essential, but a convenient option.
One unique feature of Sunaya is the separate BBQ area right in front of the house. You can also have a BBQ in the yard. All the tools are in that storage room, and if it rains, you can have a BBQ party inside the storage room.
Move the table in the center to the yard, and set up the chairs you see in the back. You can sit together as a family and grill meat. I personally recommend Agu pork. It's a bit expensive, but it's delicious. It melts in your mouth like beef. But even expensive pork is cheaper than beef, so it's a great choice.
Kobe beef is so expensive that every bite feels like putting a fortune in your mouth!
In the backyard, there's a foot-washing station where you can wash your feet after swimming in the ocean. There's also an outdoor toilet, which is convenient for BBQ parties so you don't have to go inside.
Don't think of the outdoor toilet as a primitive outhouse. It's a Western-style toilet.
Make sure to remove the sand from your feet before going inside, otherwise, it will stick to your feet like glue.
There's also a banana tree here. Although technically the banana isn't a tree. When it's harvest time, the owner shares the bananas with guests. It's still a little early for harvest.
It's a great backyard for kids to play in, with a decent lawn. The road is above, but the height is not accessible for kids, and it's a good place for them to explore and satisfy their curiosity.
The vending machine is a bit expensive.
What's really strange is that when you travel around Miyakojima, you often see vending machines standing alone in the middle of nowhere. They're very far from power poles, and I wonder where these vending machines get their electricity. Well, I'm grateful anyway.
This is the parking area. The vehicles parked are all rental cars. Trucks and delivery vehicles, but definitely rental cars. They are parked for long periods and not often used. You can park anywhere on the property.
There are many rural houses where people actually live in the surrounding area, and walking through these alleys is quite fun. It reminds me of the neighborhood I lived in as a child, although this place is nicer.
The neighborhood I lived in as a child had many water pumps, but none of them worked. I tried pulling this one out of curiosity, and water came out!
The water doesn't gush out; it flows towards the farmland. It's probably for agricultural use.
There are also unknown fruits growing here. The surrounding area is all sugarcane fields, so there are many farmers, and they wouldn't have planted something useless. I wonder what these are? Finding out would be fun.
It's such a rural area that cars don't pass by often. Taking a stroll around was a pleasant experience.
There were many utility poles where I lived as a child, but they've disappeared a lot in Seoul since then. When I first started photography, utility poles in Seoul were a nuisance, but now I like them because they have a retro feel.
There's also this interesting flower growing on the wall. Exploring the rural alleys was a very enjoyable experience.
Sunaya: A private villa where you can live like a Miyakojima islander. How about visiting Sunaya for your next vacation?
That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with more Okinawa travel information. See you again!
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